Rings of precious and non precious stones have been worn by men and women for millennia. And as the price of jewelry has become more affordable over the years, the popularity of so-called eternity rings (rings that have a row of gemstones set around the circumference of the ring), and rings that have gemstones set at least partially around the circumference of the band, has risen. Many ring designs also have elaborate filigree designs and carving around their perimeters. Unlike smooth banded rings, which can be readily resized by stretching, or cutting and filling or removing band material, for eternity rings, this is not possible due to the mounting of the gemstones around the perimeter of the ring. In rings with filigree or designs set around the circumference, resizing a ring can be challenging if maintenance of the integrity of the design is desired.
A tremendous normal variation exists in ring wearers' fingers, which can range in size from 0000 (9.91 mm in diameter) to 13 (22.33 mm in diameter) or even larger, in ⅛ or ¼ increments between sizes. As a result, jewelry manufacturers must manufacture and jewelry retailers stock a large variety of ring sizes to meet the demands of walk-in customers and therefore provide an adequate inventory of rings. This is expensive for both the jewelry manufacturer and jewelry retailer alike since one or both must absorb the costs of unsold merchandise.
Furthermore, many ring wearers, especially women, sometimes experience fluctuations in their finger size. During pregnancy, many women can no longer wear their rings, and sometimes even have to have rings cut off their fingers. Of course, many ring wearers experience body changes and weight fluctuations over weeks, months, and years, which can make ring fitting problematic.